There had been a time when the forbidden drug Blood had helped her cope with many things, including the dreams, but she'd moved beyond that. She'd been so physically transformed from what she used to be she doubted Blood would even be able to make a dent in her body chemistry these days. Besides, Blood was heavily addictive, and she was damned if anything or anyone was ever going to have control over her again, including her own weaknesses. " she said suddenly, determined to distract herself. "Beats the hell out of me," said Owen, still studying the data scrolling past him on the viewscreen.

There isn't a single living soul outside of the Standing for hundreds of miles. " Owen shook his head slowly. He'd read the reports on Valentine's destruction of Virimonde, watched Toby Shreck's filmed coverage, seen interviews with the few survivors to get off-planet, but he'd always assumed they were exaggerated. No one could oversee the murder of a whole planet's population just for the fun of it. Not even Valentine Wolfe. Deep down, part of him had desperately wanted to return home to the cheers of his people, overjoyed to have their rightful Lord back at last.

But he'd changed so much, in so many ways, till he wasn't sure, he recognized himself anymore. And given the reports he'd seen of the utter devastation awaiting him below, he wasn't even sure there was a home left to return to. "Run sensor scan," he subvocalized to his AI. " "Way ahead of you as usual," sniffed the AI. "There's a fair-sized army surrounding the castle, which according to the comm traffic I'm picking up, Valentine and his associates are currently occupying. Typical. Nothing but the best for dear Valentine.